Ghosts in the attic

When we first started cleaning out the attic in anticipation of sistering the joists, we found a bunch of hay and chicken wire stuffed into the eaves. We just figured the hay was being used as old-school insulation, and the chicken wire was simply keeping it in place. Now that we have some floor decking down, and I can easily reach the eaves without risking death by falling, I began a more thorough cleaning of the area via ShopVac. The first time one of these:

It's a bat, in case my photography skills don't do the discovery justice.

got stuck on the end of the hose, I was startled. But I hit the hose on a piece of wood and down the bat carcass fell. I resumed my work, picking up at least 4 more bats and 1 small bird. Bats and little birds happen in attics sometimes, especially in really old houses. Keep in mind that I was alone in the semi-dark, working by the light of a single bulb.

Then this happened:

Oh, yes. That's a chicken. Or, it *was* a chicken at some point in the past 140 years. Notice how I didn't even bother to take the ShopVac hose away. I switched off the vacuum, got my camera, and called it a night. Here's a glimpse into my thought process:

1. Ack! A chicken!
2. Why is there a chicken in my attic?
3. How did a chicken get up here?
4. I'm pretty sure it didn't fly up here.
5. I don't know of any chicken-sized holes in the house it could've walked through.
6. Somebody put the chicken up here on purpose?
7. Well, that explains the hay.
8. I've never heard of people keeping chickens in their attic.
9. Why is there a chicken in my attic?
10. Fresh eggs?
11. There aren't any stairs or steps leading up to the attic, so getting eggs would be a huge hassle (especially with a 10' ceiling height upstairs).
12. WHY is there a CHICKEN in my ATTIC?
13. Forget it. I'm going home.
14. Really, though. Why is there a chicken in my attic?

Any ideas?

Little known fact

Getting hit in the back of the head by a piece of falling 2x8 lumber hurts. Like, a lot. It doesn't always do enough harm to cause a concussion, though. Little known fact.

Windows

The last of our vinyl windows was *finally* installed today after more than a month. All but two windows in the house had been replaced with energy-efficient vinyl-kraft windows. They both had leaded-glass upper sashes, and I think the previous owner simply wanted to keep that look. I don't blame her; they're pretty nice. However, both of those windows were over 4 feet wide and 6.5 feet tall and let in a lot of cold air. We also had a crack in another window that we decided to get replaced at the same time. The company had done a lot of work for Paul and Francesca at the company building, so they decided to cover the broken window under warranty and just charge us for the two new windows, a transom over the back door, and labor. We waited several weeks for the windows to be made, and were delighted when they called to say they were ready. The large window in the side bay went in without too much trouble (even though the window was bigger than it should have been), but the big window in the front:


DOA. A huge stress fracture stretched from top to bottom of the upper sash when they unloaded it from the truck. They already had the original window out by then, so they installed the new one and said they'd come back to replace the pane in a week or so. The transom window over the back door was measured wrong, too (this time, the window was too small), so they had to do some finagling to make it work. Here's the finished product:

which, while the area still needs work, is a vast improvement over what it was before:

Most of the junk pictured here was put out on the lawn and taken away by treasure hunters within 24 hours.

They also forgot the warranty-replacement sash, which I forgave, telling them to bring it back when they replaced the big one. A couple of weeks lapsed before they came with the DOA replacement. But they couldn't find the other replacement sash, the one covered under warranty. Fast forward another two and a half weeks to today. I got a call at 8:30 this morning, which of course I didn't answer. They called back again later when I was actually awake and said they had the last window ready to install immediately. I couldn't leave work, but Tom went over while they installed it. We still need to caulk the outside of all the windows, but we should be able to do that in a weekend with both of us working on it. We still have the original leaded-glass panes:
We'd like to include them in the house somewhere, but we're not exactly sure where. We asked about having that glass sandwiched between the two layers of glass on the new windows, but apparently the weight of the leaded glass causes the window to detach itself from the frame. After the living area is finished, we could hang them in front of the new windows. I'm sure that selling them on ebay would be easy and profitable, but I'd like to keep them with the house if we can. Any ideas on where I could showcase these ladies?

Introductions

So as you know by now, Tom and I bought a house in Portsmouth, Ohio.
It looks great, right? It is great, really. It just needs a few updates, like walls. The previous owners gutted it almost entirely, then unfortunate circumstances forced a quick sell. Even though there's practically nothing in it, we still feel like we got a good deal. A lot of the hard and expensive work has been done, like replacing the roof and windows, adding in two new furnaces, reframing walls in a more open floor plan, and roughing in plumbing. We both are enthusiastic about it and feel like we can do a lot with the 2660 sq.ft.

I've already spent many hours in there doing preliminary work, material estimates, and cleaning up construction messes. We bought some general supplies already (ladders, a ShopVac that is probably not nearly big enough for all the dirt this project will produce, various tools, etc.), but this weekend we'll be picking up lumber and starting the real work. I'll update with project details as we progress.